As technology becomes more pervasive in military operations, there is an increasing risk that electronic circuit boards and sensitive information in the form of circuitry on the board or data/programs stored on the boards may fall into enemy hands. Currently, the physical components and printed circuitry of printed circuit boards (PCBs) are protected by the use of ceramic coatings, which are typically applied by a high temperature flame spray process. A ceramic coating adheres tenaciously and acts as a physical barrier to prevent a potential “tamperer” from being able to view the make-up of a coated circuit card. Because of the composition of the coating and the application process, attempts to remove it tend to destroy the board and components beneath the coating. Unfortunately, the high-temperature process that is used to deposit the ceramic coating can damage circuit components and the yield of this process, the number of boards that survive the process, can be as low as 50%.
Accordingly, there is a need for tamper resistant arrangements for PCB's that offer similar or better protection than the current ceramic coatings with consistently higher yields.